Link Aggregation technologies for HP-UX PA-RISC and Itanium systems

[Vijaya Kumar_3]

Greetings.

I am doing some research on Link Aggregation (combining many network interfaces as one logical network interface for network load balancing and fail over purposes) with HP RISC and Itanium systems.

I want to know what kind of technologies available for PA RISC and IA64 systems.

I want to know some details such as:

- what do you use at your site?
- How reliable it is?
- Any documentation to know about this for HP systems?

I will assign points. Thank you in advance.

Regards
Vijay Chinnasamy

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The product you are looking for is called "APA" or "Auto-Port-Aggregation" in HP-UX.

https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=HPUX-APA

Regards!

...JRF...

[Vijaya Kumar_3]

Thanks Jim for the quick reply.

Few more questions.

Is APA delivered as a free software with HP Systems? Do you use APA in your site? How reliable it is?

[Patrick Wallek]

>>s APA delivered as a free software with HP Systems?

No, this is a product that you must purchase.

I have not used APA, but as far as I know it is a pretty mature product and is used quite extensively.

[Duncan Edmonstone]

>> No, this is a product that you must purchase.


If you are on HP-UX11iv3, then the Base Operating Environment (BOE) which ius the minimum version of HP-UX available now includes APA.

So it's no longer a chargeable extra in 11iv3.

HTH

Duncan

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Vijay:

> Is APA delivered as a free software with HP Systems? Do you use APA in your site? How reliable it is?

It's not free:

https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=J4240AA

Yes, I use APA to provide high-availablity LAN connectivity by aggregating two separate network switch connections. Should one switch fail or be removed from server, the other takes over automatically. It's very reliable and has been available for considerable time.

Regards!

...JRF...

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again):

> Duncan: So it's no longer a chargeable extra in 11iv3.

Ah, I thought that I had read that somewhere but couldn't remember :-( Thanks!

Regards!

...JRF...

[Vijaya Kumar_3]

Oh.. I thought it was a free product for HP_UX B.11.23 systems. We are planning to upgrade to newer HP-UX version next year only.

Is there any other products (other than APA) for the systems earlier than HP-UX 11iv3?

Regards
Vijay Chinnasamy

[Bill Hassell]

> Oh.. I thought it was a free product for HP_UX B.11.23 systems. We are planning to upgrade to newer HP-UX version next year only.

APA is a very versatile product. It is not just LAN teaming, or port fail over. It has an extensive manual with all the configuration possibilities and requirements. It is well worth the price as it is versatile and reliable. Here is one of the manuals:

http://docs.hp.com/en/J4240-90046/index.html

>Is there any other products (other than APA) for the systems earlier than HP-UX 11iv3?

No, HP does not supply any other software for link aggregation.

[Vijaya Kumar_3]

Closing the thread